Owners, Renters, and Squatters
How one analogy opened my mind in 100 different ways
I just got off a call with a mentor of mine. (actually that term is used very loosely…. a profound business person who gives me some of their time here and there)
You know you’re speaking to people of genius when words that roll off their tongues in passing are equivalent to years of business advice. I had one of those moments today that I had to expand upon.
(Mainly for my sake, but you all get to benefit as I expand my mindset through written expression.)
Before I get into the meat of it, let’s enjoy an appetizer to set the table.
Culture is delicate. It’s difficult to define in precise words. It often lives in the edges. It changes over time and can be refined, reshaped and refocused.
Culture and Hiring
A company is basically nothing more than the collective efforts of the people who work there.
Are they moved by the mission? Do they align with the customer? Are they winners or losers?
Or even worse, are they are they ok winning some and losing some without trying to figure out how to win at a higher clip?
All of these things are ultimately set by the culture of the company. What’s expected and what’s tolerated.
Maybe more importantly - what has been deemed intolerable.
Bad fits in a company, generally start with misalignment of culture. Show me a company that has lots of bad fit employees, and I’ll show you a company that either does not understand, interview against, or defend their culture when hiring.
Culture is a Bag
I see and feel the concept of culture thrown around so frequently as if it’s something that’s easily defined, steadfast, and obvious.
Culture is delicate. It’s difficult to define in precise words. It often lives in the edges. It changes over time and can be refined, reshaped and refocused.
Thus the task of hiring for a culture is easier said than done unless culture is constantly inspected and people are understanding that it is an often ephemeral concept.
Startups Must Hire Wisely
The nature of a startup is simple (or really fucking hard depending how you see it).
You have a ton of things to build to satisfy customer and market demand.
You have very constrained resources to get it done.
You have very little time to waste before the opportunity is taken by someone else.
So mistakes in hiring are so costly to startups. Paralyzingly so.
At PushPress we have added some amazing people to our team over the years. We’ve also made our share of mistakes of every kind - including hiring.
When I think back across the great and not-so-great hires, I see a distinct similarity - and that similarity was really exposed when I spoke ot my mentor today.
Owners, Renters, and Squatters
When the topic of hiring came up, my mentor flipped into a quick metaphor.
People fall into three buckets: Owners, Renters and Squatters. Who would you rent a home to?
Owners Take Ownership.
Even if they’re renting. They respect the property as if they own it. They take time to manicure their lawns and hang their Holiday Lights (and REMOVE THEM in a timely fashion). They sweep not only their driveway, but the sidewalk too.
When something breaks owners often try to fix it, but they might ask the landlord for reimbursement.
They watch out for their neighbors, contribute to the community, and treat the children and pets of the neighborhood as if they were their own.
Renters Pay the Rent.
However, they do not respect the property. Renters think of the relationship as transactional. They pay the rent, and that is their side of the bargain.
They do not care about the shape or appearance of the property. They do not care about the community. They do not care about their neighbors.
They will not make any attempt to fix anything, and might even ask for a rent reduction if anything were to break or fall into need of repair.
And they damn sure won’t sweep the sidewalk.
But - they pay the rent. On time, every month.
Squatters Shit The Bed.
And they leave their funk everywhere they go. It is self evident - you never would want a squatter in your property.
Not only do they destroy the property without paying rent, they actually hamper the landlord from collecting rent from a proper tenant. Further, the clean up and work done after removing a squatter might continue to cost the owner for months after vacating the “tenant”.
Even worse yet, their effects are felt through the community. We’ve all seen what happens to a house on a block that rents to the wrong person. People talk about it for years. They see it as a blight. It’s stained.
Business Team Building and Hiring
Reading this, the analogy should be very clear. We should be interviewing for, hiring against and retaining Owners.
Where this hits the hardest is the majority of your team are likely a Renters, if you think about it honestly.
When you put the context of Owners, Renters and Squatters and apply it to your team, you will quickly see that your best performers are owners. Your worst performers are Squatters.
And most of your team, who fall into the camp of doing a good job, but not excelling - they’re all Renters.
More To Come On This
This simple concept has opened my mind in 100 different directions.
How do you interview for and hire Owners?
How do you build a culture that promotes Ownership vs. Renting?
Under any circumstances is it ok to be a Renter?
Can Renters be turned into Owners?
Are there different forms of Renters or Owners?
I’ll save those thoughts for a future post however.